A Study Guide for Eve Merriam's "Onomatopoeia"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Eve Merriam's "Onomatopoeia," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Aug 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535830294

Book preview

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Onomatopoeia

Eve Merriam

1964

Introduction

Eve Merriam was a prolific and talented writer who produced a wide variety of types of literature. She wrote biographies, plays, and fiction for both adults and children. However, she is best known for her poetry. Even as a child, Merriam loved the sound of words and word play. She was taken with many Gilbert and Sullivan musicals and fell in love with their lilting rhythms and lyrics. She brings this love for word play into her own poetry. An excellent example of this occurs in Onomatopoeia, a poem from her collection It Doesn’t Always Have to Rhyme (1964), which is part of a trilogy including There is No Rhyme for Silver (1962) and Catch a Little Rhyme (1966). The titles of these books indicate Merriam’s interest in teaching children about poetry in a lighthearted manner. While not all of the poems in her trilogy deal with a particular aspect of poetry, many do, including Metaphor, A Simile, Quatrain, and Leaning on a Limerick. The poem Onomatopoeia, like the word itself, deals with words that imitate the sound that they define. Although the poem, and the collection in which it appears, is neatly labeled under children’s poetry, it provides not only children but adults as well with a clear introduction to the terminology and the joy of